User talk:Angel2
Welcome Hi, welcome to Human Science! Thanks for your edit to the User:Angel2 page. Please leave a message on my talk page if I can help with anything! -- Rlakshmipriya (Talk) 22:21, February 20, 2010 Women's Stereotypes in Pride and Prejudice Hi Angel2. One of the main stereotypes seen in Pride and Prejudice is the 18th century upper class woman’s need for marriage. Every woman in the story wants to either marry, or arrange the marriage of her daughters. It is her only way to a respectable and secure future. The law of the land as well as the society then did not allow ladies to make money or own it. So her only way to stay out of want was to marry comfortably. All her upbringing and training were to improve her chances in the marriage market. She was trained to sing, dance, paint, play musical instruments , sew and embroider. Science or Maths was hardly an essential part of the curriculum. The regular dinners and balls were the occasions where matches were made. Marrying for love was not possible. Call it mercenary or practical, but marriages were arranged by family and friends with an eye on financial and social status. There is also a tendency towards admiring the aristocrats, wanting to associate with them, and if possible, rising higher in the social hierarchy oneself. Charlotte Lucas justifies Darcy’s pride by pointing to his wealth and status. Mrs. Bennet admires the elegance of Bingley’s sisters and Lady Catherine, their arrogance is eclipsed by their position. She plans for her daughters to marry wealthy men, and is elated when her daughters become Mrs. Bingley and Mrs. Darcy. The likes of Lady Catherine and Caroline Bingley depict the degenerating higher class that wants to cling to its position and maintain a distance from the rising middle class. Lady Catherine is annoyed when Elizabeth Bennet replies to her boldly instead of simply acquiescing to all that she says. Caroline Bingley looks down on the Meryton people and makes her displeasure at their company clear. But as the story bears out, this group ends up as losers in a story that shows the changes sweeping England at the time. England is undergoing a silent social evolution as a response to the French revolution. The progressive part of the English aristocracy realizes that it needs to give up its superiority in order to save its head. So Georgiana Darcy is shown accepting Elizabeth Bennet. Elizabeth Bennet herself sees no reason for feeling inferior to Bingley, Darcy or their families. She is good natured, strong, courageous, intelligent and individualistic. She rejects lucrative proposals from Collins and Darcy because she does not go with the herd. Collins’ income cannot make up for his foolishness. She does not feel intimidated by Darcy’s status. She clearly sees right through everyone’s trappings, at their core. She epitomizes the emerging individuality in English society that breaks class barriers and integrates the erstwhile class conscious society. Janani 08:41, February 22, 2010 (UTC)